


when the phone rings

by drarryangels



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anxiety, Bubble Bath, Car Accidents, Cuddling, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentioned anxiety disorder, PTSD but not in the way you think, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, a singular car accident but anyways, car related ptsd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:40:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29350593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drarryangels/pseuds/drarryangels
Summary: When the phone rings, Harry stares at the name for half a second before picking up, something heavy already in his stomach. Draco shouldn’t be calling him. Draco should be driving to Pansy’s just now.Or: Draco gets in a car accident. Things ensue.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 11
Kudos: 109





	when the phone rings

**Author's Note:**

> Uh. I'm American so I'm not sure if I got the car stuff right. 
> 
> Uh uh. Yeah. Car accidents haha. I can't get in a car without wanting to vomit these days so. Anyways. 
> 
> Enjoy.

When the phone rings, Harry stares at the name for half a second before picking up, something heavy already in his stomach. Draco shouldn’t be calling him. Draco should be driving to Pansy’s just now. 

“Harry?” Draco’s breath is coming fast and sharp over the phone, and his voice is high with panic. 

“Draco?” Harry asks, sitting up abruptly and clenching his hand tightly in the hem of his t-shirt. “What’s going on?”

Harry can’t hear Draco’s words over the gasps of his exhalations. “I... an accident... I was in.... I thought... oh god. I can’t breathe.”

Harry stands, already running to the coat rack to grab his jacket off the hook and snatch the keys from the dish by the front door. “Draco. What happened? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

“An accident,” Draco gasps. “I’m on 9th and Henley. Please...” He starts breathing hard again. “Harry.”

“I’m coming,” Harry says, sprinting out of their apartment without bothering to lock it behind him. “I’m coming, Draco. Give me fifteen minutes.”

“Okay,” Draco says. There’s a long beat before there’s a horrible scraping noise on the other end of the line, and Harry flinches before realizing it’s the sound of Draco sobbing. 

“It’s okay,” Harry murmurs into the phone. “It’s okay, darling. Can you get off the road?”

“The car...” 

“Can you get the car off the road?” Harry asks. 

Draco lets out another loud, wrenching sob. 

“Okay,” Harry says. “Okay. I need you to get off the road. Get out of the car. Are you in the car?”

Harry can hardly breathe. He’s staying calm for Draco’s sake, but his stomach is churning and there’s something dark and gaping open up in his chest. If anything’s happened... 

“I’m out of the car,” Draco says. 

“Okay,” Harry says. Urgently, “Get out of the road, Draco. Get to the side, please.”

“I’m going,” he says. “I’m... off the road. I’m off.”

“Okay,” Harry says, and takes a deep breath. “I’m almost there. Breathe, okay? I’m almost there.”

He hears Draco take loud heaving breaths, but the pattern of his inhales isn’t evening out or getting steadier. 

“Are you hurt?” Harry asks. “Draco?”

Draco’s voice is small and scared. “I don’t know. I can’t tell.”

Harry wants to pound the steering wheel of his car under his hands. He needs everyone to be moving five times faster, needs to already be by Draco’s side, run his hands over him, make sure he’s alive. Traffic inches along with the lethargic roll of the end of the work day.

“There’s people here,” Draco says, panic running rampant in his voice. “A woman. She helped me out of the car.”

“Breathe, Draco,” Harry says. “I’m almost there.”

Harry didn’t need Draco’s directions to the intersection. He would’ve been able to find Draco by the convergence of flashing lights and ambulances, the glass and plastic and metal shattered across four lanes of black tar. Harry yanks his car to the side of the road and skids to a stop, already half out of the car. 

He looks around frantically. Blond hair - where is he? It takes only a moment before he sees a shock of white hair and skin, and he’s off, running to Draco. There are paramedics, police, and firemen crowded around, but only one holds an arm to stop Harry before he's crashing straight through to Draco. Draco's standing on the curb, his hands clutched onto his jacket and his eyes wide. His face is splotchy and red, and his breathing is irregular and frantic. 

“Harry,” he gasps when he sees him, and starts coming forward with his hands held out. 

Harry doesn’t pause, just scoops Draco up into a hug. 

“Are you okay?” he whispers into his ear. “Are you hurt? Where does it hurt?”

Draco shakes his head and shoves his face into Harry’s neck. Harry presses his hands over Draco’s back, down his sides, the back of his head. There's a relief in this, in feeling Draco's body alive against his. And a fear, that he's not seeing something - that something is still wrong. 

“Tell me,” Harry says desperately, holding Draco back to see his face. 

Draco’s shaking his head, tears running hot down his face. “I... a car. Came out of nowhere... I couldn’t...” Draco chokes on his words and his face screws up tightly. 

“Oh, Draco,” Harry says, pulling him close again. He puts one hand carefully in between his shoulder blades and the other on the back of his head, stroking through sweaty strands of Draco’s hair. He's alive, he's alive. That's all that matters. “It’s okay, honey. Take a deep breath.”

Draco nods, but he doesn’t take any more breaths. He’s shaking so hard, his whole body is jerking back and forth and the zipper on his jacket is clinking against his belt. 

“Okay,” Harry says. He lets go of Draco and takes hold of his hand. “Did you talk to the police?”

Draco nods. 

“What happened?”

Draco swallows hard and shifts his gaze from Harry to the smashed cars sprawled across the intersection. “I was going straight,” he says. “The light turned yellow. A car pulled out to turn, but I couldn’t... I couldn’t stop in time.”

Harry puts a palm on the side of Draco’s face. There’s a cut over his eyebrow slowly trickling blood. Harry’s gut turns. “Which way was the other driver turning?”

“Right, I think,” he says. 

“Okay,” Harry says, stroking his fingers over Draco’s cheekbone. “We’ll get it all figured out, okay? I promise. It’s all going to be okay.”

Draco nods desperately, his breathing still going hard, and tears streaming down his face. “I hit somebody,” he croaks. 

“Shh,” Harry says. “Sit down for a minute, honey. I’ll go talk to the police.”

Draco doesn’t argue, but he’s shaking so bad that Harry has to help fold his knees underneath him so he can sit down. 

Harry breathes a bit. Draco’s alive. There’s no metal sticking out of his stomach. The paramedics are going to check him out, if they haven’t already. And he’s going to be okay. 

Harry runs a hand over Draco’s hair one more time before turning to the clusters of police and the second car - the one Draco must have hit - run headlong into the rails on the edge of the road. Harry swallows hard. God, but he hopes everyone is okay. 

When he approaches the police, he sees they’re helping someone out of the second car. It’s a kid. 

A kid who can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen, and she’s looking around with wide eyes and a trembling bottom lip. Harry doesn’t see any blood on her, but he doesn’t know if she hit her head on anything. A few of the police and paramedics break off from the group once the girl is out of the car, and come to talk to Harry. 

Harry tells them he’s Draco’s partner. They tell him in serious voices that they checked Draco over, and he might have a mild concussion, but he’s going to be okay. Harry nearly faints with relief.

"He has an anxiety disorder," he tells them, glancing at Draco on the curb, his head in his hands.

A paramedic with thin brown hair pulled back in a ponytail nods at him. "Good to know." She watches Draco as she speaks to Harry. "This is quite normal for anyone in a serious accident. Is this his first accident?"

"Yes," Harry says. "He got his license two years ago."

He remembers the day like it was yesterday, sunny and bright, Draco grinning so wide as he jumped out of the car and kissed Harry's cheeks over and over. _I did it,_ he'd said. _I passed!_ Harry pulled Draco tight to himself and kissed him hard and said, _I'm so proud of you_.

Harry glances over to the girl, standing on the edge of the road now and clutching onto the bottom of her coat, looking like she’s about to vomit all over her shoes. 

“Is she okay?” Harry asks. “Was anyone else in the car?”

The paramedic nods. “She’s okay,” she says gently. “There was no one else in the car with her. She’ll be bruised tomorrow, but she’s very lucky. Your partner - Draco -” she gestures to him. “He hit the left side of her car. The air bags on the driver’s side didn’t even go off.”

Harry blows out a breath. “I’m so glad she’s okay.”

The paramedic nods and pats his arm. “Everyone’s okay. The police are getting statements right now, alright? We’ll figure out what happened. But everyone’s safe.”

Harry nods and goes back to Draco, sits down next to him. He’s still shaking and crying. 

“I hit someone,” he’s gasping over and over again. 

Harry sets a hand on his back and lets Draco rock back and forth. He hushes into his ear, but he knows Draco isn’t going to consoled, and it’s probably best to let him get this all out of his system. He’s scared, and shaken, as well as anyone would be, and Harry telling him to calm down isn’t going to do any good. So he rubs Draco’s back and tells him that he loves him. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Harry says, his voice breaking. He leans his face close to Draco’s and sets his chin down on Draco’s shoulder. “So glad.”

Draco looks up at him with swollen eyes. “Me too,” he says, hoarse. “I’m so glad. And she’s okay too, the girl. One of the police said.”

“Yes,” Harry says. “Everyone’s okay. It’s going to be okay, darling. Just breathe.”

It’s another two hours of watching them clean up Draco’s and the girl’s smashed cars, of talking to the police and watching the ambulances drive away, talking to the girl’s parents when they get there. She starts crying as soon as her mum’s car pulls over to the side of the road. They tow the cars and the police put together insurance papers. Harry talks to everyone, buys water bottles for the girl and Draco from a nearby petrol station, holds Draco close to his side, and tells the girl who won’t let go of her mother that it’s all okay. 

“Everyone’s safe,” he tells her, but she still looks scared out of her mind, and Harry understands. 

In the end, it turns out to be the fault of a malfunctioning light. The girl has insurance, Draco has insurance. No one is hurt. Draco gets a little bandage over his eyebrow, but doesn’t need stitches. Harry is so relieved he could cry. 

Draco sobs the whole way home in deep gasps and torrents of tears down the swollen red of his cheeks. Harry keeps a hand on his leg but lets him cry. 

He holds Draco’s hand as he helps him out of his car and leads him up the stairs to the apartment. Draco keeps flinching and flicking his eyes to the sides like a car is about to come hurtling out of the dark towards him, and Harry tries very hard not to squeeze his hand too tightly. 

When they get back to their apartment, all of Draco's limbs lock up and Harry has to slowly ease him out of the car and up the stairs. 

"Everything's okay," he murmurs to Draco, putting the key in the lock. "You're safe."

Once they're inside and the door shuts behind them, Draco's breathing eases a bit. 

"Hey," Harry says. "Does a bath sound alright?"

Draco nods mutely, his eyes still flicking back and forth nervously.

"Alright then," Harry says. He runs his fingers through Draco's hair. "Have a sit on the couch for a moment, honey. I'll have everything ready in just a minute."

"Okay," Draco croaks out and stumbles over onto the cushions. 

Harry watches him for a long moment from the doorway. The fall of his hair over his eyes, the curl of his fingers into his palm, the sway of his back. Something tight is still clenched up in his stomach. He could have lost Draco tonight. Easily. Just from pure bad luck. 

Harry turns away and goes to run the bath before he starts weeping in their living room. While he's waiting for the bath to fill up, he calls Pansy and fills her in on and apologizes for Draco not making it to her apartment for their weekly dinner. 

"Stop it right now. I don't need apologies," she says. "I'm just glad he's okay."

"Me too," Harry says, feeling it so much in that moment. That tightness and the exhale of knowing Draco's safe in the next room all at once. 

Draco comes padding in to the bathroom after Harry's hung up with Pansy, half his hair stuck to his face and the other half spiked up in the back. "Bath?" he asks, his voice rough. 

"C'mere," Harry says, holding out his hand and tugging Draco past the door frame. 

Draco follows after him without pause, stumbling over his own feet and clutching onto Harry's hand like it's the last thing tethering him to Earth. When they're both in the bathroom, Harry brushes his hands over Draco's shoulders before carefully pushing his jacket off his shoulders, and then pushing the hem of his t-shirt up. Unbuttoning his jeans and slowly pushing them down with his pants, then holding his hand out to help Draco step out of them. 

Draco is completely silent, still shaking. His mouth opens to let out small whimpers in between the trembling of his bottom lip. 

"It's going to be okay," Harry whispers to him. It is okay. Everyone was safe. Harry keeps telling himself that over and over. Safe, safe. Everyone was safe. Draco is safe. 

Draco nods and nods at Harry's whispers, but he doesn't stop shaking and his eyes move around the room without ever settling or landing on Harry.

When the bath is full of hot water, Harry takes Draco's hand up again and leads him to the edge of the tub. Harry nudges him forward until Draco steps into the water and stands there. 

"There, there, then," Harry murmurs, stepping in behind Draco and pressing close to his back. "You're alright."

He sits down, drawing Draco down with him, until they're curled up together in the water with bubbles foaming up around them. 

Harry sets his head down on Draco's back, the place just above where his shoulder blades come to the center. His nose is just close enough to Draco's hairline to gently nestle into the scent of blond curls, lemon shampoo, and anxiety driven sweat. He wraps his arms under Draco's and presses his palms to Draco's chest to feel the rise and fall of his skin and the steady thump of his heart. 

"Are you okay?" Harry asks into Draco's spine. 

"No," Draco says. His voice is tight and hoarse. "I don't think so."

Harry breathes deeply, and wishes he could push a big breath into Draco's lungs. "Thank you for telling me."

"I don't want to drive," Draco says. "Ever again."

Harry withdraws one of his hands from Draco's chest to run it over his shoulder and down the length of his ribs to just above the dimples in his back, under the water. "Draco, honey. This is hard now, but you'll get back behind the wheel. All of this fear will fade with time, and-"

"No," Draco says. "I'm not driving again."

Harry thinks of that smile on Draco's face when he got his license, the bright light coming down through the cracks in the trees, white blond hair fluttering back under summer breeze.

Harry inhales, exhales, presses his chin tight to a knob of Draco's spinal chord. "Okay, my love. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"I love you," Draco says, in response, moments later. 

Harry holds Draco close to him in the bath, water lapping up around their sternums, and Draco's hair tickling at Harry's nose, and thanks any higher power that might be out there that Draco is safe and alive. "I love you, too, Draco. So much. So, so much."


End file.
